Anne’s Gift to Herself

Sometimes if we’re lucky and live long enough we get to see ourselves spiral around and revisit where we began. With fresh vision, our experiences lean toward wisdom. One spiral began in 1987 with the opening of Illumina Gallery in a tiny mall that now touches Piedmont Park, Midtown Atlanta. We sold art, mineral and crystal specimens, and sculptural fine jewelry from metalsmiths around the world. I remember finding this Rhodocrosite specimen from a South American dealer at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show 33 years ago. It was exquisite then and the story it now carries makes it even more precious.

Anne purchased the rare, heart-shaped Rhodocrosite cluster from Illumina Gallery and kept it on display for three decades, referring to it as “her heart.”  She inherited diamonds from her mother and grandmother after her mother’s recent passing and knew she wanted to bring the Rhodochrosite and the Diamonds together into one heirloom jewelry piece that she could wear.  “This pendant is so me even though I don’t think of myself as wearing fancy stuff. It honors the relationship between mother and daughter for three generations, all of them ongoing, now symbolized in one piece in my heart!”

Repurposed heirloom Diamonds, rare Rhodocrosite specimen, 14K Rose Gold.
Designed by Lainey Papageorge, articulation by FM Abdulky.